The Thursday Update

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

Lakeshore Friends—

This Sunday is the Super Bowl and the numbers surrounding this game are staggering. Consider that:

» 125 million people will watch the game in the United States, making it the most watched broadcast event in history.
» 63 million people will watch the game outside the United States.
» 1.47 billion chicken wings will be consumed on Sunday.
» 12.5 million pizzas will be consumed on Sunday.
» The host city of New Orleans will take in $1 billion dollars of tourist revenue.

It’s amazing how this day has become one of the biggest days of the year. While I don’t mind any of this, I wonder if 125 million people went to church last Christmas or Easter? My guess is that they didn’t attend anywhere near that level. It speaks to where people’s values lie today. Worship has moved away from the Creator to the activities of His created. So how do we respond?

Rather than curse the darkness and complain about it, God would call us to shine the light of His love and leverage it. Afterall, we are “the light of the world” and are called to “let our lights shine before others” (Matthew 5:14-16). How do we do that? We leverage the big game by speaking the language of the culture. Sports is the language of the culture, and football has no equal in America.

That’s why we’re holding another Football Sunday event at Lakeshore this Sunday. It’s a popular event because everyone understands the language it speaks.

We have a great Sunday planned for you, from the service in the auditorium (and in your kid’s classrooms), to the atrium which is being transformed into a tailgate party with free food and drinks. We do all of this for you, but also for you to be able to more easily invite your family and friends to join you on Sunday.

So I hope you’ll be there to take in this event with a football jersey on and some friends to enjoy the experience with you at Lakeshore.

Warmly,
Vince